Eyes Red
by Baxaronn
Summary: Yukina is pregnant for the first time. Her brother might be, as well.
1. Chapter 1

Just so's you know, for the purposes of the plot I had to make Hiei and Yukina 99 years old at the end of the series. I don't actually believe that they have reached that age yet, but I didn't want to go too far into the future, as I needed to make sure the other characters were still alive. So I aged them up a bit...from my perspective, as I've said, that is.

I should stop talking now. Enjoy! Please.

* * *

Chapter 1

After an exceptionally long day they all retire to the beach for an indeterminate amount of time. They chat about old times, they chat about recent times, they laugh, they joke. They play in the sand, they play in the ocean, they stand and watch each other play, they sit and watch the tide roll back and forth.

By the time the horizon has hidden three quarters of the sun, everyone has finished their business near the water's edge, so they all gather on the beach around an empty fire pit. It isn't cold and no one expects it to become cold, but they busy themselves trying to light a fire anyway. Kuwabara protests, arguing that it will make Yukina uncomfortable, but she says she doesn't mind, so long as she doesn't have to be up close to it. They aren't having much luck lighting the ashy, burnt twigs left by the last person, so Kuwabara is sent to find new ones.

"Why am I the one going? It wasn't my idea!" he says. The question isn't answered because he doesn't stick around to hear a response. He goes back to the log they had been sitting around an hour ago and begins tearing off large splinters and strips of bark. Yukina watches him absentmindedly. The rest of them watch Shizuru mess with her lighter.

"Hiei would be able to get a fire started no problem," Botan observes with a pout, crossing her arms over her chest. "Why does he never join us unless he has to? He's such a killjoy."

"He's probably out killing _people_ right now, that's practically all he ever does." Kuwabara shouts as he returns with his arms full of wood. He empties it into the pit and sits back down next to Yukina,

"He has a job now, which he could be called in for at any time," Kurama explains, and with a small chuckle adds, "not to say he'd want to join us anyway."

"Ah, forget him, he's not even here. Just keep inviting him until he accepts," Yusuke says, lighting a strip of bark as he speaks. He drops it on the pile and within a minute the whole thing is up in flames. "Awesome! That was easy."

"Especially considering before you were trying to light a pile of ashes," Keiko says with a smirk. Yusuke pushes her. She pushes him back.

"No horseplay around the fire!" Shizuru yells. Yusuke flips her off.

Yukina watches everyone laugh with a contented smile, slightly removed from the crowd in her attempt to avoid the smoke. She's having a hard time concentrating on what is being said. She can't quite put her finger on what it is, but she feels sort of strange. She thinks for a moment that the heat is getting to her, but cooling the air around her doesn't change much. She feels somewhat queasy, but not enough that she would call herself sick. Something just seems off. She's never felt anything like it before, and it's distracting her from socializing.

All of a sudden she feels a sort of churning sensation in the pit of her abdomen. It hurts momentarily, but her surprise outlasts the pain. She puts her fingertips over her mouth and stares into the fire, wondering what that was all about.

* * *

The sun sets over a forest. Nothing is moving except the wind and the leaves. The birds perch quietly in their branches, ready to fly away at the slightest provocation. The only non-bird or -insect this high up in the trees is Hiei, sleeping in the shadow of a particularly leafy branch.

Until a few minutes ago the birds mostly ignored him, occasionally sparing a passing glance. They had all noticed him when he showed up; none of them had ever seen a creature quite like him before, besides the occasional human wandering on the ground below them. They got used to him shortly and he became part of the background, another animal in a huge forest. He drew their attention again, however, when he started squirming in his sleep. _Why is he moving?_ They wonder. _Is he going to attack us?_

But Hiei has not noticed any of them. He hasn't noticed he is moving, nor why he is moving. He doesn't notice the weird noises his stomach is making, or the sweat slowly trickling down his face. He is not disturbed by the rustling leaves, the wind that agitates them, the occasional flapping and calling of birds. He doesn't know what he's dreaming about and he won't when he wakes up. He is not conscious of anything.

As if frustrated that nothing has moved him, Hiei's stomach lurches violently and he wakes with a start. The sudden movement startles the birds, and they scatter.

* * *

The first to notice Yukina's curious expression was Kurama, generally the most observant of the group. He watches her go from surprised, to contemplative, to excited, staring at the fire all the while. She clasps her hands in her lap and stares, smiling, obviously lost in thought.

Hesistant to interrupt her musing, Kurama continues to watch her, hoping perhaps to guess what's on her mind before asking. He sniffs the air; something smells different. He cannot yet tell what it is, as the scent is obscured by the smoke, but another whiff tells him it's coming from Yukina. Now more than vaguely curious, he decides to ask.

"Yukina, you look happy about something," he says, effectively catching her attention, as well as everyone else's. All conversation stops abruptly, all faces turn toward Yukina. She does not seem put off by the attention; rather, she seems to brighten. She claps her hands together and says "I'm pregnant."

* * *

Hiei rubs his eyes and wipes the sweat off his forehead. He holds his hand to his chest and exhales, his heavy breath masked by a gust of wind. His eyes sting and he's still sweaty, so he pulls his scarf off to wipe his face again. He wraps the scarf around his neck again and rests his hand on his abdomen this time, just below his navel.

_What the hell?_ he wonders, eyes darting around as if he expects someone to be there.

A few trees away, a bird caws.

* * *

~There you are, thank you for your patronage. You should be receiving the next chapter in a somewhat reasonable amount of time, hopefully. If you'd like to say something, go right ahead. Have a nice day.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello, and welcome to chapter two. I'm assuming that if you're here, you already seen chapter one, so hope you are satisfied with this follow up. I don't know how often I'm going to be updating...intervals shouldn't be too long, but I don't want to promise anything. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and put this on alert and all that, I'm glad you enjoyed what you've seen before, and I hope you continue enjoying it.

Initiate!

* * *

Chapter 2

Aside from Botan and Kurama, everyone is completely thrown by Yukina's announcement. For a minute they stare at her in stone silence. Gradually their shock becomes anger and they all shift their attention to Kuwabara.

"Kazuma..." Shizuru growls, clenching her fists.

"Kuwabara!" Yusuke shouts, following suit.

Kuwabara, just as shocked as anyone else, sputters as he tries to defend himself and understand the situation at the same time. "Don't jump to conclusions! I haven't touched her! I dunno who has, though..." he adds, giving Yukina a pained look.

Yukina looks back in confusion. "What are you talking about?" she asks, eyebrows knitting.

Botan rolls her eyes and gestures for Shizuru and Yusuke to back off. "Now is not the time to be mad! Kuwabara hasn't done anything wrong! And even if he had done what you think he did, that's not necessarily wrong either," she says.

"Yukina belongs to a clan of demons who reproduce asexually," Kurama explains calmly. "I believe it happens automatically once every hundred years. I didn't know you were quite that old yet, Yukina?"

Her smile comes back and she nods. "Yes! In two hundred and fifty days I will be a hundred years old, and I should give birth to a baby at around the same time."

Kuwabara, Shizuru, and Yusuke all sigh with relief. Shizuru puts a cigarette between her lips and mumbles some expletives as she lights it.

"Wow, so this will be your first child?" Keiko asks, more pleasantly surprised than her furious companions had been.

"Yes, I've ne-" Yukina starts, and then pauses for a moment as something dawns on her. "Oh, I see, you thought that I had had sex with Kazuma? No, we haven't done that."

Yusuke is the first to laugh, clutching his stomach and pointing at Kuwabara. The others join him, a bit nervously at first, but soon everyone is in hysterics except for Kuwabara and Yukina. Yukina is smiling serenely, in an unbreakable good mood. Kuwabara is happy knowing that Yukina's baby was an immaculate conception, but annoyed that he's being made fun of. He tells them to shut up and stop laughing, says it's not funny, shut the hell up, seriously, but no one stops until they're good and ready.

"Sorry, Kuwabara," Kurama says, covering his mouth with his hand.

"Yeah, it's not your fault you're the butt of every joke," Yusuke says with a grin. He punches Kuwabara's shoulder.

"Are you seriously ninety-nine years old?" Keiko asks Yukina. "You look younger than me."

"My people age very, very slowly," Yukina responds. "Our lives are so long, I have no idea how many years they're supposed to last."

_So Hiei is going to be one hundred soon too_, Kurama realizes. _I should probably tell him that. And this. I wonder how soon I'll be able to find him._

"I'm happy for you, Yukina. And I'm glad you're so happy about it, too," he says aloud.

"Very happy. It's like I'm an adult now," she says, her smile unwavering.

* * *

No longer suspicious of being watched, Hiei relaxes against the tree again and closes his eyes. He's not sure what he was expecting; it was his own body he felt, not something anyone could have done to him. Unless someone poisoned him, but he would have noticed that. No, this is just him. His stomach still hurts, but it's ignorable, and will probably be over shortly. He's still tired. He wants to finish sleeping.

Within seconds he is asleep again. Slowly, over the course of the next half hour, the less cautious birds settle back down on the branches around him, secure in their safety now that he has stopped moving.

* * *

The sun has finally set completely, the fire now the only source of light closer than the other stars. A comfortable silence has fallen, the only remaining sounds produced by the burning wood, the tide, and the invisible insects, hiding somewhere in the woods nearby. Conversation seemed to have disappeared along with the sun, everyone now either too tired to talk or lost in their own thoughts.

Kuwabara sits motionless, a look of serious concentration on his face, with a sleeping Yukina slumped against his shoulder. Botan yawns and stretches her arms over her head, trying to stay awake for some reason she doesn't understand. Keiko sits with her arms around her legs and her chin on her knees, her gaze flitting between Yukina and Yusuke. Kurama looks at nothing, his expression unreadable.

Yusuke's eyes are firmly fixed on the sky, staring at the stars as if watching something move between them. He hasn't really thought of her since this morning, but suddenly thinking about Genkai isn't quite as painful anymore. _This is nicer than a funeral, I'd say, _he thinks. _Looks like you're being replaced, eh grandma? The timing's so perfect it's like you've been reincarnated._

_Fat chance, stupid. Quit it with the wishful thinking and be grateful for what's actually happening, you selfish brat._

Yusuke looks down at the sand, half of a smile on his face. _Yeah, that's about what she'd say to that suggestion._

Shizuru walks over with a bucket of saltwater in her hands. Without a word she pours it over the fire and sets the bucket down, watching to make sure it's completely gone out before sitting down herself. Her cigarette now burnt down to an unusable stub, she removes it from her mouth and drops it in the ashy puddle she created.

"You know, you could have just put that out with sand, right? You didn't have to go all the way back to the ocean for that," Kuwabara says, his thoughts interrupted by his sister's return.

"I wanted to take a walk," she says. A moment of silence passes and she continues, "this is nice and all, but things are gonna change soon. Drastically. Especially for us, especially for you."

_Especially for Hiei_, she adds to herself.

"That's what you're concerned about right now too, right?" she says, looking at her brother for confirmation. When he nods she goes on, "Let's think about this tomorrow, I'm tired."

* * *

~yaay. See you next time, bye bye.


	3. Chapter 3

This chapter is shorter than the previous and future chapters.

* * *

Chapter 3

Despite having one of the longest night's sleep he's had in years, Hiei is still tired when he gets up and begins his journey back to Mukuro's lair. His stomach feels better; it appears it was only a one-night thing, perhaps caused by something he ingested that day. At the base of the forest there isn't much light; though the sun is making it's way to the top of the sky, it is blocked by tall, thick, leafy trees, only the occasional splotch of light visible on the forest floor. Hiei prefers it this way, and takes his time as he makes his way to the exit. Why he chose to spend this night in the human realm, he has no idea. He wouldn't have this pesky sunlight problem in the demon realm.

He makes his way to the forest edge at a steady, boring pace, birds and squirrels moving around every which way, annoying him with their constant motion but reminding him to keep his guard up. Sure enough, amongst the movement of the woodland animals, he senses another, stronger presence heading toward him. It doesn't take long for him to guess who it is. Aside from the familiarity of this particular aura, there isn't a large list of beings that would be willing to follow him without immediately identifying themselves.

"Kurama."

"Yes," Kurama replies, coming out from behind a tree. "You might know already, but I have some news for you."

"Don't dance around, just tell it to me."

"Alright. You're sister is pregnant."

Kurama is ignored for a few seconds, long enough for him to suspect that he hasn't been heard. Hiei does respond eventually, just before Kurama repeats himself.

"For how long?" he asks.

"Since yesterday," Kurama answers.

"Hm. You certainly didn't waste any time telling me."

"You weren't exactly difficult to find. So what are you doing in the human realm anyway?"

"I'm trying to avoid people; I thought this might be a good place to do it."

"You told me earlier that you were busy."

"Well I lied, didn't I?"

Kurama sighs. "Anyway, Yukina will give birth close to her one hundredth birthday, which she says is two hundred forty nine days from now. Which means you are ninety nine years old."

Hiei shoves his hands in his pockets and gives Kurama a look of frustration. "What gave you the impression I needed to know that?"

Kurama meets his gaze and patiently explains, "nothing, but it's the sort of information people generally like having. I'm giving it to you assuming you will do what you want with it." "The only person that is relevant to is Yukina. I'd actually have preferred not to know, for future reference," Hiei says, turning his face away so that Kurama now stares at the back of his head.

"If I were to tell you about Yukina's condition, you'd be able to figure out how old you were based on that alone. I couldn't have kept that a secret, could I?" Kurama says.

"Whatever. Is there anything else?"

"No, that's all. Where are you going?"

"Back to the demon realm, where else?"

"We would like it if you visited us sometimes, you know."

"I thought you said you were done."

"Sorry, I guess I lied."

Another silence falls.

A gust of wind bends the trees apart and, for a brief moment, Hiei and Kurama are completely bathed in sunlight. Kurama struggles to keep his long hair out of his face, only managing to clear his vision once the wind settles and the shadows return. Hiei is gone. Kurama readjusts his shirt and begins his journey home, leaving the way he came.

* * *

Though he had been unusually silent the night before, Kuwabara is as loud and talkative as always as they ride the train back to the city. He seems to have no limit of questions for Yukina, who, despite being quite sleepy at the moment, answers every one of them.

"So, how long have you been...expecting?" he asks, awkwardly replacing the word 'pregnant.'

"Since yesterday," Yukina replies, much to everyone's confusion.

"How can you know if it's only been one day?" Keiko says, grabbing the question before anyone else can.

"Well, I knew it was going to happen some time around now anyway...and my stomach- well, not my stomach, you know what I mean, I felt this really strange movement around there and I figured that was it beginning. It makes sense, everyone always told me I'd feel some kind of indication that the process had started. And most of us have a gestation period of two hundred fifty days. It's not usually so exact, but I guess it is sometimes, because my birthday is just that far from yesterday. So, I must be pregnant."

"Wow..." Keiko mumbles, amazed. "But, can you really be sure? Maybe you should get it tested, just in case?"

Yukina shakes her head. "I'm almost completely sure I'm right, and even if I'm not, it will be obvious in a month or so. I don't know how we would test that anyway!"

"Kurama told me before he left that you smelled different, and that's why he asked you what was up," Yusuke offers.

"_Smelled_ her?" Kuwabara yells, indignant.

"He's a god damn fox, he's good at smelling, get over it."

Kuwabara grimaces in mild disgust, but soon recovers and returns his attention to Yukina. "So, what are you going to name it?"

"I haven't thought of one yet. Would you help come up with something?"

"Of course! I'll start making a list right now!"

"Wait until you get home, stupid," Shizuru says. "Isn't it kind of early to be thinking about names, anyway? The first thing is how to deal with the baby itself."

The rest of the trip, until they all part ways, is in silence.

* * *

~Until next time! If you want to tell me something or otherwise interact with this thing, go right ahead and do so. Thank you for participating in DomClaudeHello's attempts to entertain people.


	4. Chapter 4

Woooo, chapter 4.

* * *

Chapter 4

The next morning, Shizuru wakes up to a silent house. She pokes her head briefly into each room, and finds only Yukina, sitting alone in the living room, reading. Kuwabara has long since left for school, so depending on when she woke up, Yukina has been alone for a while now. Shizuru yawns, wipes the grit out of her eyes, and strolls into the room.

"I'm sorry about yesterday," she says, sitting down on the sofa next to Yukina. "Now that I think about it, it sounded like I was angry with you. I'm not."

Yukina looks at Shizuru and, as in almost every situation, responds first with an understanding smile. "Don't worry, I'm not offended. I suppose I should have told everyone this was going to happen before it did. I guess I just forgot to mention it."

Shizuru sighs and pulls a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket. "Either way, it's too early for me to be making a big deal about arrangements," she says, sticking a cigarette between her teeth. "I mean, it's only been three days. Less than that."

Yukina stops smiling and turns her face to her hands, both of which are resting on her knees. In one hand is her book, her finger wedged between two pages to keep her from losing her place. "It was a good question, though. I don't know what I'm going to do yet. I mean, I know what I'd like to do, but I don't know what I _should_ do," she says, tracing circles with her thumb on the cover of the book.

"What d'you mean?" Shizuru asks. She flips open her lighter and lights the end of her cigarette.

"Um, well, I don't know where I want to raise her yet," Yukina answers.

Shizuru takes a long drag of her cigarette and exhales a white stream of smoke. "I don't know much about your family or neighbors back in the demon realm, but if you want to stay here, I'm sure my dad and Kazuma would be happy to keep you. We'd be willing to help."

Yukina perks up again turns back to Shizuru. "Oh, would you? That would be perfect, thank you. I don't want to raise a child on the floating island, and I'm not sure where else to go."

Shizuru grins. _She's so cute_, she thinks, tapping the ashes on the end of her cigarette into a saucer someone left out. _It's weird, to think she's old enough to be a mother. She's so damn _small.

"This would be the worst time to kick you out, Yukina," she says. "Obviously we gotta ask dad first, but I can't imagine he'd have a problem with it. He likes babies."

"Thank you so much, Shizuru. I'm very grateful for everything your family has done for me."

"Forget about it. Have you had any breakfast yet? I'll get you something."

"No, I haven't, thank you. I'll just have whatever you're having, I can't think of anything right now."

Shizuru stands up again and walks into the kitchen, taking the empty saucer in with her. _Well, that took less thought than I assumed it would,_ she thinks as she put the saucer in the sink and searches through the cupboards for something edible. _I mean, we're not done yet, but that part was easy._

* * *

Yusuke is not particularly surprised when he sees Keiko and Kuwabara approach; he had been expecting to see at least Kuwabara, who had said specifically he was coming so they could talk about Yukina. Yusuke had wanted to meet somewhere else, when he wasn't at work, but Kuwabara apparently was too eager to consider other peoples schedules. So he came over after school and found Keiko on the way, also hoping to discuss the approaching baby.

"You know I told you not to come," Yusuke says pointlessly as his visitors take their seats on the bench behind the counter. "If you're just gonna sit there, you'd better order something. I put a 'no loitering' sign up last week, so, uh, no loitering."

"Oh, shut up, Urameshi," Kuwabara says, pulling apart a set of chopsticks even though he has no food. "Get over yourself and enjoy our company."

"Hey, it's not my fault you can't wait a few hours before a conversation that we don't need to have for months! You're taking up space. Do you want me to make a living or not?"

"Fine, jeez, I'll order something. Get me whatever's on special."

Yusuke looks at his other guest, hoping perhaps that she will order unprompted, but she remains silent. "And what'll it be for the lady?" he says to Kuwabara after a moment or two.

"So I can't have a moment to decide what I want, Yusuke? What kind of service are you running here?" Keiko says, pulling a pair of chopsticks out of the cup and putting them down on the counter. "Beef, please. And hey, to make our intrusion more bearable, I'll pay for it this time."

"Yeah, 'this time'. There shouldn't have to be a 'this time'," Yusuke says, and disappears behind a curtain. Soon he reappears holding two steaming bowls of noodles. He places one in front of Keiko and holds the other one out to Kuwabara. "I'm not telling you what it is," he says before putting it down.

"Impressive revenge, Urameshi," Kuwabara says. "So, about this Yukina business. What kind of name do you think the kid should have?"

"Uh, I have no idea. I don't even know if it's a boy or a girl."

"If she's generated it completely on her own, it will only have her genetics, won't it? So it has to be a girl," Keiko says, nibbling a piece of egg thoughtfully.

"Oh, yeah, right. Wait, so it's just gonna be a clone of her! Freaky," Yusuke says. "In that case, just think of names that would suit Yukina, besides Yukina."

"Finish that thought in a few minutes, Botan is here!" a familiar voice shouts from the street. Botan comes into view, waving at them cheerfully with one hand, pushing aside a low-hanging banner with the other. "I have another mission for you!"

"Am I seriously still doing this?" Yusuke grumbles, giving Botan an exasperated look.

"Yes! Please," she replies. "Kuwabara, you too. Bring Kurama and Hiei if you want."

"How long is this going to take?" Keiko asks. Botan smiles and holds her hand up as if reciting a pledge.

"It'll be a short one, I'm sure. Some illegal trade is going on, and you've got to intercept it before the transaction is complete. We've already figured everything out; it's happening in six days, some demons are trading stolen artifacts to a man named Tachibana Tadao. All you have to do is run in and break it up! You'll be done in no time!"

Kuwabara slurps up a mouthful of noodles, taking his time to chew as he thinks about his new task. "Is it okay if I skip out on this one? I've got a test that day. If it's easy, the three of them should be fine without me."

"As if you'd be any help anyway," Yusuke says with a mischievous smirk. Kuwabara tells him to shut up, and Yusuke laughs at him.

"Oh, you two are so stupid. I'm sure it'll be fine if you don't come, Kuwabara. Hiei and Kurama will be more than enough help."

* * *

"I've been told you're being called in to do some kind of errand for the spirit realm," Mukuro says as she enters the room. Hiei sits against the wall opposite the door cleaning his sword. A headless corpse lies prostrate between them, the open neck still spurting blood at intervals. Hiei wipes the last drops of blood off of his blade and looks up, expecting her to continue.

When she does not he responds, "I haven't heard this yet. What do they want?"

"I don't know, some spirit detective thing. You gonna do it?"

Hiei looks down again. "I certainly don't want to, but I'm sure I'll end up doing it whether I like it or not. Is that a problem?"

Mukuro makes no visible face behind her mask, but her voice betrays amusement. "Nah, you should go. You haven't seen these people in a while, and I'm sure they miss you. Besides, you don't do anything here anyway. Make yourself useful."

"Your permission doesn't mean anything in this situation, you realize," Hiei says. He drops his cleaning rag and it lands in a puddle of blood which is slowly making its way towards him. A few meters away lies the source of the blood, a bodiless head that matches the corpse in the center of the room. Hiei notices the advancing pool and, not wanting to get his pants wet, scooches forward until he is no longer in it's way.

"I'm not giving you permission, I'm answering your question. As much as I like watching you win every fight I put you in, it's a little pointless, don't you think?" Mukuro says. "So do something else. Do something better."

"Of course."

Hiei stands up, sheathes his sword, carries it over to the cleanest corner in the room, and sits down in it. He rests his head in the niche where the walls intersect and closes his eyes. His grip on his sword slackens and it relaxes into his body; the tip of the handle resting against the wall, the rest of it supported by his torso and shoulder.

"Still ignoring that bedroom I gave you?" Mukuro asks.

"Yes."

Within minutes Hiei is asleep, sword rising and falling with his heaving chest. Mukuro watches him for a bit before turning around and leaving.

* * *

~Thank you in advance for any variety of interaction with this story, from posting a response to thinking "huh. This was okay, I guess." Chapter 5 coming relatively soon, though I don't actually remember how long it took for me to update this time. I'm not very good at remembering. So if it took a long time for this one to come up, I'm sorry there was a delay. Anyway, yeah. Bye.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five, chapter five, whatchu gon' do, whatchu gon' do when they come for you?

* * *

Chapter 5

Kurama watches Yusuke approach the intersection they've chosen to meet at with an amused smirk on his face. Yusuke doesn't notice it until he's finished yawning, tired from having to wake up so early in the morning. It's still there when he's done, and he meets it with curiosity. Kurama shifts his gaze downward, and Yusuke follows it. Hiei is propped against a lamppost, one leg outstretched and parallel to the curb, unmistakably asleep.

"Shitting hell, seriously? Does he do anything when he's not fighting besides sleep?" Yusuke says, scratching the side of his face. He prods Hiei's leg with his foot, trying to disturb him awake. "Oi! Hiei! Rise and shine, buddy, it's time for work!"

Hiei wakes without much provocation, already standing by the time Yusuke begins talking. He looks from Yusuke to Kurama and back again, waiting for one of them to do whatever they were going to do.

"How long have you been asleep there for? And why would you just plop down in the middle of the damn _sidewalk_ to take a nap? And you know, it wouldn't kill you to at least dress like a human, if you're gonna put yourself on display like that. I know enough stupid people already, do you have to make yourself seem even worse by comparison?" Yusuke complains, rubbing his eyes and stifling another yawn. Hiei scowls at him, incredulous.

"There is no one in this world I need to hide myself from, _stupid_," he spits. "Now tell me the plan and let's be done with this."

"No need to have a stroke, I'm just concerned people will think you're a crazy hobo. Anyway, we're looking for a demon with red skin and white hair, and a human with no distinguishing features. They're gonna be trading some object, I don't know why it's important, and I don't know what it is."

"It's a necklace," Kurama says. "There is apparently a bizarre yoki traceable in the pendant, but no one is entirely sure what it does. Well, it is suspected to be the cause of several unexplained deaths, but not everyone who wears it is affected, and touching it has never had any problematic side effects. So, rather, no one is certain what causes what it does. Either way, it is in this demons possession illegally, and he is not sanctioned to redistribute it."

"Yeah, that," Yusuke says, grinning. "I forgot that part. Anyway, they should be in that alleyway right about now." He points to a gap between buildings across the street, the only one on that block large enough to accommodate anything human sized.

"I'll take this one, I don't want to have to wait for you," Hiei says, reaching under his cloak and drawing his sword.

"Awright, just make sure you don't ki-" Yusuke begins, but Hiei is gone before he can finish. "Crap!"

He and Kurama react as soon as they can, but Hiei has already stepped out of the alley by the time they make it across the street, a gossamer metal chain clamped in his fist with a clunky red pendant weighing it down. Wordlessly he hands the necklace to Yusuke, who grabs it by chain, carefully avoiding the apparently cursed pendant. He feeds it into a small warded bag given to him by Botan, pulls the drawstring shut tight, and pockets it. "Uh, Hiei, you're supposed to wait until we agree to your terms before you do anything," Yusuke says, glancing nervously into the alley and seeing nothing but an overturned garbage can.

Kurama rights the fallen receptacle and squeezes past it into the shadows of the alley, beyond which nothing is visible from the sidewalk. Several meters in he finds two bodies, one haphazardly stacked on top of the other. Both are unconscious, but alive, as he discovers upon checking their respective necks for pulses and finding that they are still present. He sighs, smirking again, and emerges from the alley.

"They're alive, Yusuke, don't worry," he says.

Yusuke sighs as well. He looks down at Hiei and claps a hand on his shoulder. "No offense, but I was kinda worried you were gonna kill them, and I was going to tell you before you so rudely interrupted me that we weren't supposed to punish them until Koenma figures out how they got the necklace."

"Don't touch me," Hiei says, stepping out of Yusuke's reach. Yusuke laughs and withdraws his hand. "You asked me not to kill them, so I didn't," Hiei explains.

"But I didn't finish my sentence, and you left before I said 'don't'," Yusuke says, confused. Hiei ignores him, pulls a white band from his pocket and ties it around his forehead.

"Wait, I didn't notice you weren't wearing that. Did you have your eye out this whole time? You're not even trying."

"Like I said, I have nothing to hide from."

"Really?" Kurama says, raising an eyebrow.

Hiei pauses, glowering in silence at Kurama's sly smile. "I don't have the patience for y..." he starts, trailing off mid-sentence, distracted by something the other two cannot see. His face screws up painfully and he looks down at himself, lip curled, fingertips probing his abdomen searchingly. Kurama watches him, quizzical.

Just as suddenly as he had cut himself off, Hiei looks up at Yusuke, face back under control. "Are my services required any further?" he asks.

"Nah, you're free to go," Yusuke tells him, waving dismissively.

Hiei is gone instantly.

"Did he seem like he was in pain to you?" Kurama asks.

"Eh, he probably gave himself an ulcer. Is it just that I haven't seen him in months, or does he seem extra pissed today?"

"I'm not sure if it's more than usual, but he does seem agitated about something."

"And what the hell was that 'Really' thing? That was so cheesy. Were you trying to make a point or could you just not think of anything else to say?"

"Shut up."

* * *

Kuwabara sits bent over his desk, his face up close to the blank booklet he was supposed to have started writing in ten minutes ago. He reads and rereads the essay prompt on the chalkboard, but as soon as he looks away his mind is somewhere else. He taps his pen lightly on the table, trying to focus himself on the task at hand.

_Choose one of the following questions and write a minimum of 500 words_, he reads to himself. _Make sure you explain your answer, and keep in mind events preceding and following the event your question blah lah lah lah lahlahlah_

To his left, a girl stops writing mid-sentence, momentarily distracted by one of his louder taps. She turns to him and puts a finger over her mouth, failing to notice that he is not looking at her. She looks back down at her paper and continues writing, and Kuwabara continues tapping his pen against his still-blank paper.

_I want to say something with 'Yuki' in it, but anything like that would be too similar to Yukina. Does she have anyone to name her after? What was her mother's name? Her brother? Anyone else?_

The longer he stares at the booklet, the blanker and blanker the page seems to become. The more he taps on the desk, the louder and louder his distracted drumming grows. The girl to his left looks over again and audibly shushes him, but he still does not notice her.

_She's very beautiful, so would it be fitting or overkill to use that as a meaning? How important is meaning? Or like, what kind of meaning does she want or not want?_

"Kuwabara!" the girl hisses, and he turns to her, surprised to be addressed so venomously for seemingly no reason. She points to his pen, whispers "stop," and turns back to her essay.

"What?" he says, realizing instantly after speaking what the problem is. "Oh. Sorry, Ojima," he whispers, and puts the pen down. He rests his head in his hand and closes his eyes, the glaring emptiness of the white pages of his essay booklet still stinging under his eyelids.

_Aoi? That's a nice name. Don't know if she would like it though…I need a book of names to look through._

He looks at his watch and his shoulders sag as he realizes he's wasted almost a third of the class and there is still nothing in his booklet. _Choose one of the following questions and write a minimum of 500 words. Choose one of the following questions and write a minimum of 500 words. Choose one of 500 words in mind the preceding events. Question 1: Choose one of the following questions and write a minimum of the events preceding your words._

Tap, tap, tap.

* * *

"So how exactly are Hiei and Yukina related?" Yusuke wonders aloud as he and Kurama walk away from the crime scene. Some girl from the spirit realm neither of them have met before is worming her way past the garbage can, waving them away and telling them their services are no longer required. They had been expecting this to take the rest of the day, so now they have nothing to do besides wander aimlessly until something occurs to them.

"They're brother and sister," Kurama answers, surprised by such an obvious question.

"No, I mean, how is it possible that they're related?" Yusuke clarifies. "Do you mind if I smoke?"

"Ah, that is a much better question. And no, I don't mind. You don't usually ask first."

"Eh, Keiko says if I'm gonna smoke, I at least have to be courteous about it. And while I don't usually do what she says, I figure she might be right about this."

"Well, go right ahead," Kurama says. Yusuke pulls a carton of cigarettes and a paper matchbook out of his pocket, selects a cigarette and puts it in his mouth. Kurama waits for him to finish lighting up before continuing, "as for your other question, I'm not entirely sure what the answer is."

"Any thoughts?" Yusuke asks, smoke trailing out of the corner of his mouth. "Hiei told me he and Yukina had different mothers, but if she doesn't have a father than that's not possible."

Kurama mulls it over quietly for a minute or two, eyes following an invisible line on the sidewalk, not looking up until he is sure of what to say. "The only way Yukina could have a male sibling is if her species is capable of sexual reproduction as well. Their mother must have mated with someone around the same time she became pregnant normally."

"So why didn't she meet him up until now?"

"He didn't grow up with her. Why that is has to do with inexplicable cultural practices. Not much is known about the Floating Island and its inhabitants besides the fact that they like to keep to themselves. Because of that and clues I've picked up from the two of them, I have a hypothesis, but I don't want to presume anything about them or their family." Kurama blinks, slowly, deliberately, and his gaze diverts back to the invisible line. "However, I will say that before I met him, I had heard of him a few times, and he was often referred to as the 'Forbidden Child'. Your answer must have to do with what he's forbidden from, or for."

"Cryptic, much?"

"I'm not; I honestly don't know. There's a limit to what Hiei will tell me, and it's unlikely to be different for you, but you might get an answer from Yukina."

Yusuke takes the cigarette out of his mouth, stubs it out against a brick wall, and drops it on the sidewalk. "I wonder who his father is."

"I wonder who _your_ father is."

"_I_ wonder who _your_ father is."

"The first one or the second one?"

"...I dunno, you win."

"If you choose to see it that way."

"Damnit, Kurama, that doesn't even mean anything. Now you're just doing that on purpose."

"Doing what, Yusuke?"

"Shut up."

* * *

Halfway through the forest Hiei stops running. He steadies himself against a tree with his right forearm, still experiencing his momentum from stopping so suddenly. His other hand claps over his mouth and he stands this way for some time, breathing. His stomach is churning, moving in ways it isn't supposed to. Unless you're sick.

Aware that by standing he is probably making himself feel worse, but hesitant to sit down lest he upset is stomach further, he compromises by closing his eyes and checking his breathing. He inhales, exhales, slowly, slowly, until his nausea begins to ebb away. Still more slowly he sinks to the ground and sits, uncurling his legs and straightening his body against the trunk of the tree. He removes his hand from his face and opens his eyes.

_Either I'm sick, or I really have been poisoned_, he thinks. Once he's determined he can move without vomiting, he'll have to get Kurama to check for him.

_ Soon, though. I shouldn't sleep until I know if I've been poisoned._

Inhale, exhale.

After three breaths, Hiei closes his eyes. After ten more, he is asleep.

* * *

~Until next time! Which will be eventually. I refuse to make any promises. Especially because I'm writing another chaptered fic that I've only updated through chapter two which I need to catch up on. But it won't be too painfully long, I'm sure.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6, with a side of cole slaw. _Delicious _cole slaw, I promise.

* * *

Chapter 6

The moonlight doesn't penetrate Yukina's curtains, her only source of light now that dusk has passed coming from the lamp post below her window. With her eyes closed and her body turned away from the window, however, all she perceives is darkness. Which is good for her, because she cannot sleep without absolute darkness. But tonight, though the darkness is perfect and the nausea she has felt persistently throughout the day has finally begun to fade, and though she has been tired since before the sun even began to set, she is not falling asleep.

_I'm pregnant_, she thinks, running a hand over her stomach. It's still flat; she looks no different than she did two weeks ago.

She turns onto her back and continues attempting to sleep, eyes trying to blink despite being closed. Minutes passing with no success, she opens her eyes and slides out from under the sheets. _It's too warm in here_, she decides as she slides open the window. This doesn't change much, as it's the middle of summer, so she turns around and leaves the room. Usually quite light on her feet, she plods tiredly into the kitchen and flicks on the light.

As a short person in a house of tall people, the cabinets are too high for her to reach on her own, so she drags a chair away from the kitchen table and climbs onto it. She retrieves a bowl from the cabinet, climbs down again, and moves the chair back to where it came from. Finally, she fills the bowl with tap water and heads out of the kitchen. On her way out, however, she crashes directly into what turns out to be Kuwabara in the doorway. The bowl flips out of her hands and splashes water all over the both of them. The rim of the bowl hits the floor and rolls away, stopping when it hits the wall and uprights itself after spinning some more.

"Yukina! Are you okay?" Kuwabara asks, backing away from her, face flushed.

"Yes, I'm fine," Yukina says, brushing stray drops of water from her shirt. "I'm sorry, Kazuma; I've made you all wet."

"I don't mind! What are you doing with a bowl of water, though?"

"I was going to freeze my door shut," she says, evoking a bemused look from Kuwabara. "I should explain that. I'm not quite used to how warm this place is all the time and it makes it hard to sleep. I can make the temperature in the room lower on my own, but unless I block the door the cold goes away while I'm sleeping. It's easier to freeze things when you have water to do it with."

"You've been having trouble sleeping this whole time and you didn't say anything?" Kuwabara says, outraged with himself that he didn't guess this was happening. "I can give you my air conditioner, that will probably help."

"Those are those machines that try to control the temperature, right?" Yukina asks.

"Yeah, I have one in my room, but I don't need it."

"Oh, no, I can't. Thank you very much for the offer, but I don't want you to be less comfortable."

"Please, I insist!"

"Really, Kazuma, it won't help me anyway. A temperature machine designed for humans probably won't be cold enough for me," she says with a grateful smile. She shuffles over to the wall to pick up the bowl she dropped, but Kuwabara gets there first.

"Okay, I guess that makes sense," he sighs. "But besides that, are you comfortable here?"

"Oh, yes, very much so."

"You're, uh, not too sick or anything?"

"What? Oh, no, not too much," Yukina says, reaching under her shirt to rub her stomach. Kuwabara glimpses her midriff briefly and looks down, blushing again. "I've been a bit nauseous lately, but it's no big deal. I hear it's supposed to get worse soon, though."

"Well, Yukina, if you ever need anything, I will not hesitate to find it for you!"

"Kazuma, you're such a good friend."

"I would do anything for someone I love," Kuwabara says as he refills the empty bowl with water. He hands it back to Yukina, face flushing further when her small hands brush against his own. "Wait, before you go I have a question," he adds as she turns to leave the room.

"Yes?"

"Do you have anything in mind about what kind of name you want your daughter to have? Like, meanings, or someone you want her named for, or whatever."

Yukina looks down at her reflection in the bowl. "I haven't thought about that. I'll have to tell you when I think of something," she says. She looks up again with a smile and says "goodnight," and goes back to her room.

Kuwabara, having forgotten what he had come to the kitchen for in the first place, returns to his room as well.

* * *

Kurama's room is relatively quiet, save for the distracting humming of the air conditioner and the periodic flipping of pages, until it is interrupted by the sound of knuckles rapping on glass. He looks up from his book and sees Hiei squatting outside on his windowsill, somehow balancing using only his toes, looking back at him. He jerks his head at the air conditioner and raises an eyebrow, prompting Kurama to get up and remove it for him.

Once the machine is out of the window, Hiei slides through and takes a seat on the windowsill. He looks down at the big plastic box below him and prods it with his foot. Kurama flips some meaningless switch on it and suddenly the room is silent. "What is this?" Hiei asks.

"It's an air conditioner. You've never seen one?" Kurama asks, not entirely surprised.

"I've seen things like it at Mukuro's place, but I didn't ask what they were."

"It's designed to make the temperature more comfortable when you're inside," Kurama explains. "This dial is for temperature, this one turns a fan on, and so on. There was one in our room at the Dark Tournament as well."

"Right," Hiei says.

"So, what brings you here, besides lessons about technology you should know about already?"

"I think I may have been poisoned."

"What?" Kurama says, entirely surprised.

"I've been unusually nauseous lately and I think I may have been poisoned," Hiei repeats, blank-faced.

"That's quite a thing to beat around the bush about. For how long?"

"I'm not sure. I felt sort of sick upon waking up nine or so days ago, but I don't think that was the start of it."

"Why not?"

"I wake up nauseous all the time, I figured it was just that."

"Really?" Kurama asks, intrigued. "Why is that?"

"I have no idea. Anyway, I only brought that up because it's been on and off ever since then, which isn't supposed to happen. So just to be safe, I thought I'd check with you if I've been poisoned. You can do that, can't you?"

"No problem. You realize, though, that if you've been poisoned for over a week already, it's quite likely that nothing can be done about it now."

"That's not important, I just want to know if I have been or not," Hiei says, to Kurama's disquiet. In lieu of a verbal response, he leans over Hiei with his eyes shut and smells him.

The first thing he smells is blood from several days ago. "When was the last time you washed your clothes?" he asks, wrinkling his nose.

"I haven't," he says. "This robe is new."

"Whose blood is it coated in?"

"I don't know their names."

"Right," Kurama says, and continues sniffing for poison. Hiei watches him absently, for lack of anything else to pay attention to. He looks around the largely featureless room, comparing it to the last time he saw it and noticing that it doesn't look any different. The only difference is the order the books on the shelf above the desk are in, although he cannot tell if they have been completely replaced or simply rearranged. He has never paid much attention to the books before, and as he still can't read the titles on the binding he still doesn't care. He turns back to Kurama and is greeted by the inside of his mouth.

After a moment of gaping Kurama realizes what he's doing and half-covers his mouth with his hand. They stare at each other in silence, both waiting for the other to speak.

"What?" Hiei says, impatient, slightly worried. "Is there something wrong?"

Kurama blinks, shakes his head, and looks at Hiei some more. "Hiei…" he begins, trailing off somewhere, at a loss for words.

"_What_, Kurama?"

He sucks his lips in and looks away, uncharacteristically fidgety. "Are you a girl?" he asks, flinching preemptively.

Hiei gawks at him until his amazement transforms into anger. "You are such a bastard," he spits, and darts out the window.

"Wait! I'm not trying to joke, I'm sorry!" Kurama yells after him, but he is nowhere in sight. He scans the rooftops visible from his room, just in case, but Hiei is long gone. He sighs, resigned, and reinstalls the air conditioner.

_He smells like Yukina_, he thinks, eyebrows furrowed under his bangs. _Why does he smell like her _now?

He picks up his book again and opens it to the bookmarked page, but, finding after a minute or two that he's only read one sentence, he puts it back down and switches the desk lamp off.

* * *

The windowpane is so fogged up that Hiei can't see inside, even from his perfect vantage point at the top of a nearby lamppost. So despite his immediate proximity, he is forced to use his jagan to see into the room. He slips the white band off of his head and drops it, revealing an innocuous slit on his forehead. Slowly, as if it had been previously glued shut, the skin slides apart over a bulbous, awkwardly placed eyeball. His other two eyes close; now all he can see is Yukina, motionless in her bed.

He doesn't know what he expects to happen to her, so his decision that she is safe is rather arbitrary. Regardless, he makes it, and he leaps to the ground and sprints away, neglecting to collect his head band before leaving.

Inside her room, it is cold. Wind howls and batters the walls, and snow falls from the ceiling. The floor, the walls, the sheet of ice hiding the bookshelf, and everything else are coated in frost. Yukina lies in her bed with her face towards the window, puffs of white breath escaping her nose. Finally, she is comfortable enough to sleep.

* * *

~I'm not sure if I've mentioned already how I appreciate all the positive feedback I've received thus far, but I do. Also, I know that I said I was going to work on a different, specific story before updating this, but I didn't. I'm sorry, other story. Truly I am. Anyway, yeah, hope you liked this relatively short chapter.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7, and a free puppy. _It's adorable._

* * *

Chapter 7

Unfortunately the café they chose does not have any long tables outside, so to accommodate all seven of them they have to shove three tables together and bum a bunch of chairs off of people sitting by themselves. They arrange themselves so they are as close together as possible and order drinks from an irritated waiter. Yukina, the person they have all come to see, orders a glass of iced tea, and has fun stirring the ice cubes with her straw while she talks about naming options.

She has not thought about it at all in the few weeks since Kuwabara last asked her. This is not because she did not appreciate his concern and helpfulness, but rather it is because she came to a conclusion very quickly and that is that there is no one that she wants her daughter named for.

"Well, there are a few people I wouldn't mind, but they're all still alive," she adds as a second thought.

"What about Genkai?" Yusuke suggests, composed, yet pointedly looking away.

Yukina smiles a wide, toothy smile and shakes her head. "But wouldn't you rather use that name yourself?" she asks, still talking to Yusuke but looking at Keiko. Keiko's face glows red. Yusuke laughs at her.

"A'right, but what about my other question? Do you want it to mean something?" Kuwabara says, staring at Yukina intently, his hand ready with a pen and a napkin just in case he needs to take notes.

Yukina ponders the question silently, her ice cubes clattering away against the glass. "Well, there are a few things I want for her, so I suppose you could derive meaning from those."

"What sort of things?" Botan asks excitedly from the other end of the tables, leaning over Kurama to try and hear better.

"Well, for one thing, I want her to be friendly and open to new people," she says. "I want her to be warm and approachable."

"Good, good, very good things to be," Kuwabara mutters, transcribing her words as closely as he can on the napkin.

"I want her to be compassionate, and merciful, if she ever needs to be," she continues. She takes another moment to think, daintily sipping her drink. "And, I want her to have red eyes."

"Uh, won't that happen no matter what? She's your clone," Yusuke says in an obvious tone.

"Shut up, Urameshi! How dare you be so rude to her!" Kuwabara yells, waving his fist menacingly.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm not offended," Yukina assures him, waving her hands nervously. "I know she will have them, but I'm very happy that she is going to, is all I meant. It's very important to me that this particular trait be passed along."

"Why's that?" Yusuke asks, catching Kuwabara's fist in his hand and twisting his arm behind his back.

"Because I'm the only ice maiden with red eyes. Everyone else's are blue."

"Ooh! Did you get that from your father?" Botan asks.

"Yes; well, I assume so, I can't have gotten them any other way. I like them, even if no one else did, and I want my daughter to have them too."

"Red makes an interesting eye color," Shizuru says, looking at Yukina's curiously. "You and Hiei have some crazy eyes. Especially him, what with the third one."

"The biggest difference is that on Yukina they look sweet and innocent, and on Hiei they look evil!" Kuwabara says, offended that anyone would compare such drastically different people.

"Hiei…" Kurama mumbles into his cup. Yusuke, the only one who heard him, looks at him and asks him to repeat himself. Only now does he notice that Kurama has been staring at the table the entire time, obviously distracted by something.

"Yusuke, I need to talk to you away from everyone else," Kurama whispers imploringly, tapping his cup with his fingernails and fighting the urge to bite his lip.

"Okay, sure?" The two of them stand up and head around the corner. Keiko notices them before they get far, and demands to know where they are going. Yusuke stammers some vague excuse about demonic physiology or something like that and the two of them slip away, promising to return within ten minutes.

* * *

The border between the demon and human realms is, as usual, inactive. To his dismay Hiei is on duty on this most boring of days, sitting on a cliffs edge and watching nothing happen below him. Since dawn broke that morning he has been sitting in that spot, accompanied only by a small tracking demon that he has been determinedly ignoring all day. Basically a giant nose attached to a tiny malformed body, it is not conscious enough of anything to notice or mind that it is unwanted company. Hiei stares at it every once in a while, wondering how it can stand such a sophisticated olfactory system.

_Everything smells so damn bad right now_, he thinks, wrinkling his nose at something he can't pinpoint exactly. _I don't know what's stinking so much, but it's making me sick_.

The demon, even smaller than him, sniffs the air constantly, nose twitching as rapidly as a rabbit's. It does not seem bothered by any smells in particular, but Hiei chalks this up to a lack of intellect. It's like a talking, hideous dog, which recognizes sensual cues without actually interpreting them as anything. It's basically too stupid to live.

Ignoring all that, he really needs to know what this smell is, because if he doesn't find the source and get rid of it he's going to puke. He looks around to no avail, as there's nothing near him that normally smells this terrible, so with no other options he pinches his nose closed with his fingers and breathes through his teeth instead. The nose demon faces him, wondering why Hiei's breath smells different all of a sudden, but sparing no effort to find out.

_Fuck, what is that?_ _Did something soil itself and die in a pile of rotten fruit?_ Hiei thinks, taking one last look around and noticing that there is indeed a small pile of rotted fruits under a tree at the other end of the cliff. There is no excrement-covered cadaver amongst them, however, which makes Hiei doubt that this is the true source of his problem.

Realizing he can no longer stop himself, he turns himself over so that he is on his knees and he vomits.

* * *

"So, what's the secret?" Yusuke asks in a cheery voice, hoping to lighten the anxious and worried mood Kurama has cast. "Something about Hiei?"

Kurama nods. "He came to visit me two or three weeks ago, asking me to help him determine whether he had been poisoned or not."

"Poisoned?"

"This was the same day we caught Tachibana, remember he looked sick before he left? Anyway, while I was sniffing for poison, I smelled something strange and I made a rude comment, and he got offended and ran off."

"Damn, man, what did you say?"

"It's not important. What's important is what I smelled."

"What'd you smell?"

"I tried to explain it to him, but I brought it up the wrong way and I didn't get a chance to tell him."

"Kurama, what did you smell?" Yusuke repeats.

With a sigh, Kurama hangs his head like a guilty criminal, shoulders sagging dramatically. "He…he smelled like a…a pregnant woman."

Yusuke, who had been expecting to be told about Hiei's impending death, has been struck dumb. He cannot offer any words until Keiko or Botan or whoever calls them back, and he tells Kurama they will talk more later.

"Remember how I said I'd be done in ten minutes? It hasn't been ten minutes yet," Yusuke says to everyone, not entirely sure yet who had yelled for them.

"Whatever you're talking about can wait until later! You're supposed to be hanging out with us," Botan pouts, crossing her arms and scrunching her face like an angry child.

"Don't you have a job to be doing?" Yusuke counters, pulling an equally stupid face (albeit more grimace-y and bug-eyed then Botan's cute petulant-toddler one) and, forgetting which space was his, chooses the seat closest to where he is standing and sits in it.

"We weren't talking about anything particularly important," Kurama says. If he had been worried before, you wouldn't be able to tell now, as he looks completely calm. "Where did Yukina go?" he adds, noticing her absence from the table.

"She's around the other corner, throwing up in a garbage can," Shizuru answers. She gestures at two empty chairs on either side of her, emphasizing their emptiness by putting her hands on the seats. "Kazuma followed her, of course. Apparently her iced tea didn't agree with her."

"Her _tea_? What goes in tea that makes you puke?" Yusuke asks. Shizuru shrugs, almost as confused as he is.

"The stomach of a pregnant woman is a weird thing. It hates random things and loves other random things," is her explanation. She glances around, sort of hoping someone else will provide a more detailed one, but when no one does, she shrugs again and takes a long sip of her drink.

Yusuke and Kurama exchange looks, then look away before anyone notices.

* * *

"So, what do you think the problem is?" Mukuro asks, leaning back in her chair with her feet propped up on her desk. "Did you take food from someone?"

"If you think it's poison, it's not. And if you think I'm that stupid, I'm not," Hiei responds from across the table, feet planted firmly on the floor. "I'm diseased, is what this is."

Mukuro pushes herself further away from the desk so that her chair balances on two legs. "How do you know you're not poisoned? And before you say anything, I'm not assuming you're wrong, I just wanna know what makes you so sure."

"It's quite difficult to get anything past me," he says, pointing to his forehead. "Besides, I've been sick for weeks now. If it was poison I would certainly have died already."

"Probably, but…well, if you've been sick for this long, you're either going to get over it soon, or there is something seriously wrong with you. I—" she begins, cutting herself off with a snicker. "I was about to ask if you were getting enough sleep, but that's a ridiculous question."

"Funny you should mention that, because my plan for the moment is to go to sleep."

Hiei stands up and heads for the door. "Hold on a second," Mukuro calls after him, and he stops, but does not turn to face her. She walks up to his side and puts a hand on his opposite shoulder, so that her arm is pressed against his back. Hiei twitches slightly, and looks at the floor, concentrating even harder on not looking at her.

"While I know your preferred resting places are the ones known least for their comfort levels, I think you should sleep in a bed for once," Mukuro suggests. "A tree is not a good place to sleep, 'specially if you're trying to recover from something."

"I'm fine," Hiei says, his voice confident but his eyes still fixed on his feet. "This won't make any difference."

"Just try it for one night. Seriously, I've slept in trees and I've slept in beds, and I can tell you from experience that beds are much more comfortable. Trees just make your back hurt. Causing more pain isn't going to improve the situation."

"It's sleep either way, isn't it?"

"Humor me."

With a resigned grunt Hiei shrugs Mukuros hand off his shoulder and walks down the hall towards his assigned quarters. Although he has been in the room before, he only uses it for storage, and never stays for more than a minute. On the wall opposite the door there are three windows, and the left and right walls are occupied by a bed and a closet, respectively. It's very boring, because he never bothered to decorate or furnish it. But why on earth would he do that? He doesn't live here.

Anyway, the bed is shoved up against the wall adjacent to the door. Hiei has been unconscious in a bed before, but he has never fallen asleep in one. The idea of falling asleep while prostrate is foreign to him; he has not done it since he was an infant. But he will try, because he wants Mukuro to shut up. And maybe it is worth a try. Maybe it will help.

So he pulls off his shoes and his cloak, throws them and his sword into a pile in the corner, lies down on the bed and closes his eyes.

Five hours later Mukuro peeks into the room as she passes and sees Hiei, curled up in the windowsill on the other side of the room, sound asleep.

* * *

~Thank you for your loyal readership, I understand that seven chapters is quite a lot of chapters. _And we're not even done yet!_ I don't know how much longer this is going to be, I wish I could give you an estimation. But that would spoil all the fun, wouldn't it? No, probably not. That's not how fun works. But I do go on; enjoy the rest of your day.


End file.
